Staring at love
by toobeauty
Summary: This is a fluffy ficlet because today is my soul mate's birthday! never have I found someone who can understand me so well and tolerate all my blue moods. love ya J, m


TITLE: Staring at Love.

AUTHOR: Too_beauty.

PAIRING: Alexander & Hephaestion.

RATING: PG.

CATEGORY: AU

DISCLAMER: I don't know the people involved, they belong to History and to themselves but I wouldn't mind sharing my life with Phai *sighs*

WARNING: hints of m/m relationship, fluffy dreamtime ….

BETA: Emily who can put my thoughts into beautiful words.

FEEDBACK: comments are love!

Hephaestion was reading his copy of "The Myrmidons" in his bedroom in Ecbatana, lying on his bed, propped onto some silk pillows. He wore nothing; only a white Egyptian cotton sheet covered his lower body up to his waist. Although it had been some hours since Helios stopped traveling along the sky, it was still a very hot night, even for summer. Selene, Helios's trusted nighttime lover, had since taken over and was shining brilliantly, surrounded as always by millions of twinkling stars.

Hephaestion sighed once more and put his scroll away. He was not feeling at ease as of late, he was nervous and expectant at the same time, and he suspected that perhaps it was because, for the first time in years, he was taking some time off. Incredibly, Alexander's Army was quiet - no foes were threatening the borders of the vast Empire, no death threats were hanging over anybody's head, the Queen was expecting and due in the next few days, and, according to the oracle, a baby _boy_ would be born. Alexander was more than happy and satisfied with this omen.

With such peaceful times upon the land, Hephaestion could not realize what was making him feel this way; he was, after all, enjoying his (justly deserved) free time. He was not, however, looking to become useless. He had been inactive all day long, he had not gone out of his chamber at all and his loyal page had brought him his meals and prepared his hot bath. So now again he was relaxing and reading while eating some caramel figs every time and then.

The blue-eyed General rearranged his pillows and laid flat on his back, letting his sky-blue eyes wander around the room. He finally set them on Alexander's marble bust, the one which was placed opposite his bed. Smiling at it as every time he set his eyes on his lover, he whispered:

"Health to you, my love, and may the gods give you good dreams." and closed his eyes.

Meanwhile, another Macedonian was resting on his couch and sipping some warm milk. He was unable to sleep because his mind was working very fast; thought after thought invaded it relentlessly. And even though he realized that he needed this quiet time to reorganize his Empire, he felt as if something was missing, as if he should be somewhere else. He definitely knew where he wanted to be, and who with, and he decided that his time to enjoy their time together had finally arrived.

Acting according to his heart, he rose from his couch and went directly to the wall facing his bed; he counted ten flowers and pushed the tenth one softly, a low click letting him know that the hidden door was unlocked. He went through it and entered the narrow hall, walking along it. When he stopped, he pushed two blue flowers again and they moved sideways, revealing two peeping holes.

Through them he could distinguish the sleeping form of his soul mate. It must have been thousands of times that the young King had come there, stared at his love and watched his sleep, occasionally falling asleep there too.

The calm up and down movement of his lover's chest caught Alexander's attention, and his two-colored eyes travelled all over the exposed sun-kissed skin as if his eyes could actually caress him. The king's lips turned up into a tiny smile when Hephaestion turned on his side, facing him; in this way Alexander could see how the shoulder-length auburn tresses crowned his head and lay spread on the scarlet pillow as if they were rays. His cerulean eyes, fully (if not unfortunately) closed, were guarded by bold, long lashes, which rested onto his upper cheekbones; his lips, velvety and beautiful instruments of pleasure, were partially open as thought waiting for someone to kiss them. The strong neck was illuminated from behind by the moonlight and had that marble appearance that begged to be bitten; the broad and muscled chest with its brownish nipples made the king sigh (he remembered very well how warm it felt under his hands and how smooth it was when he bit it tenderly). Alexander imagined his hands caressing his lover's abs, circling his slender waist with one of his arms while the other got lost under that sheet to go on caressing the bare flesh under it.

What had started as a calm and innocent contemplation had turned into a physical nightmare, and he only woke up from his daydreaming when a muffled "Alex" escaped from his Phai's lips. Alexander had secretly waited for that hint and he was happy that it had been voiced before he was asleep. As much as he enjoyed drinking in the sight of his lover, Alexander never did enjoy the aftermath of waking up in that narrow hallway. He turned round a knob and entered Hephaestion's chamber through the hidden door, the one that not even Hephaestion had discovered yet.

The king approached to the bed, knelt beside his lover's head and kissed his lips softly, just a butterfly kiss before he would go back to his chamber. He was already on his feet when he heard:

"Don't go, please, stay with me tonight until the stars go out," whispered Hephaestion as he opened his eyes.

Alexander got lost in his lover's eyes, those two blue pools of heaven and desire, and kneeling on the bed he embraced him from behind and whispered lovingly into his ear:

- "Tonight and forever, my love, and you know that someday, even after each and every star has finally gone out in the sky, I will still be there waiting for you."


End file.
